All you need is love, love! Love is all you need!

Happy Cinco de Mayo, everyone! I hope you all went out to the store
today and bought the makings for some homemade tacos to celebrate,
because we sure did! Today's letter is mostly about love and a little
bit about tacos. Because who doesn't love tacos?

The last 6 weeks have brought the repeating theme of love and how
powerful it can be. This week, as we worked with a member that has not
been to church in probably 30 years, a particular phrase continued to
run through my mind: "Just love her back to Me." Quite often when we
start working with a member who has not been to church in a while, we
jump in to reteach the missionary lessons just as we would to an
investigator. But with this particular member, it has been made very
clear that she just needs to be loved. She needs to learn what it is
to feel loved in an unconditional way. And doing just that has brought
her leaps and bounds closer to God than she has been in a very, very
long time. It has lead me to realize how important it is for a person
to feel loved and appreciated and cared about. Which helped me realize
that that is all that missionary work is! It is loving someone enough
to show them a better way, the best way, of life.
We did not just get right into this member's home and start teaching
her about Heavenly Father. We loved her first. And as we showed her
genuine love, she has become ready to learn about Heavenly Father and
the blessings of the gospel. It is a beautiful thing to be a part of.
So go out and just love people. Love them enough to show them the best
way of life. It's an incredible way to live :)

I sure love you all and I hope that each of you know that you are a
beautiful son or daughter of God who loves you too!

Love, Sister Amber Ricks